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Sonos Ray Soundbar: $279
The Ray is latest soundbar from Sonos and, at $279, its least expensive model, coming in almost $200 less than the excellent Atmos-ready Beam (Gen 2) we reviewed last year. Like the Beam, it’s an all-in-one affair (the subwoofer is optional) but it doesn’t support Atmos surround sound or voice control. Instead, you get a strikingly simple soundbar that sounds good and is small enough to fit on a shelf or under almost any TV, making it ideal for dorms, bedrooms, and other secondary spaces. There’s no remote — you control the Ray through the excellent Sonos app and it has an infrared (IR) receiver so you can use your TV remote to adjust the volume.

Setup couldn’t be easier as the Ray offers only an Ethernet port and optical audio input, which of course rules out support for 7.1, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital Plus, and other formats. The bar does, however, support stereo PCM, Dolby Digital 5.1, and DTS Digital Surround in addition to streaming via AirPlay 2 (sorry, no Bluetooth). The company’s proven Trueplay automated room tuning technology is also on tap (you’ll need an iPhone to set it up) along with a handful of other useful features, including loudness, bass, and treble controls (through the app) and Speech Enhancement and Night Sound presets, which enhance dialogue intelligibility and compress dynamic range, respectively.

The moment reviewer Leslie Shapiro fired up the Ray, she was impressed the clarity of the sound — especially on voices — whether she was listening to music or watching a movie. And coming from a professional recording engineer that says a lot. “There was none of the harshness or brash high-end that plagues budget speakers and the guitar [on “New Song” by Maggie Rogers] sounded natural and transparent.” Watching the sci-fi film Needle in a Timestack, she noted that the swirling sound effects created a sense of movement and space that extended beyond the edges of the soundbar. The Ray is an affordable entry into the Sonos ecosystem — one that excels in meeting the most basic requirement for any soundbar: dialogue clarity.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Fantastic vocal clarity
Small footprint
Forward-firing design for easy placement
Minus
Trueplay tuning app only for iOS
Basic surround processing
Limited connectivity

Full Review Here (posted 10/12/22)

Sensational Surround

Monitor Audio Silver 7G Atmos Surround Speaker System: $8,610 (with subwoofer)
Full-on multichannel surround-sound speaker systems have been a staple of Sound & Vision since the beginning because the best of these setups deliver the most credible theater-at-home experience you can get. Period. Such is the case with Monitor Audio’s Silver 7G series, the latest update in its longstanding Silver Series that made its debut in 1999 — the same year this magazine made the transition from Stereo Review to S&V. More than two decades later, we remain impressed. The handsome eight-piece 5.1.2 Atmos-ready system we assembled for this review comprised a pair of Silver 300 7G towers — the second largest of three floorstanders — the new Silver C250 7G center speaker, a pair of Silver 50 7G bookshelf models (used as surrounds), and a pair of Silver AMS 7G Dolby Atmos-enabled modules. Since there is no 7G subwoofer as of yet, we added a Silver W-12 6G sub into the mix.

Like all speaker companies, Monitor has its special sauce, which in this case includes driver cones made of a material they call C-CAM (ceramic-coated aluminum/magnesium) and “dimpled” to increase rigidity — a technique the company calls Rigid Surface Technology. To further improve the sound, the tweeters are mated with the latest version of the company's Uniform Dispersion (UD) Waveguide. Such technical refinements are all well and good but do they translate into better sound? Listening to a battery of superbly recorded stereo music, reviewer Tom Norton was struck by the lack of coloration and depth of the soundstage, not to mention the precise detail he heard on everything from percussion hits to subtle acoustic guitar fingerings. Male and female vocals, in particular, sounded convincingly rich and full.

Movie reproduction was just as impressive. The 7G ensemble nailed the “explosive dynamics in the opening scenes of Oblivion as Jack fires up his jet copter, and even more as he flies through a violent thunderstorm.” Norton was also captivated by how lush the music sounded on the Disney animation Encanto with the all-important dialogue coming across crystal clear. Monitor Audio’s longstanding reputation of delivering great sound and solid value remains very much intact with the Silver 7G speaker series.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Crisp, clear sound
Nice depth
Tight imaging
Excellent fit and finish
Minus
Needs a subwoofer for movies

Full Review Here (posted 10/19/22)

Tiny Little Bass Booster

Sonos Sub Mini Powered Wireless Subwoofer: $429
For owners of Sonos speakers and soundbars who are looking to wring a little more oomph out of their systems, Sub Mini to the rescue! Standing a foot tall and measuring only 9 inches across, the stylish bass canister is designed to boost the bass of any Sonos non-portable, amplified product, including the new Ray soundbar also featured in this roundup. At $429, it’s not a drop in the bucket but it is $320 less than the company’s Sub (now in its third generation) not to mention considerably smaller and lighter, weighing in at 14 pounds and standing 12 inches tall with a diameter of 9 inches. By comparison, the Sub weighs 36 pounds and measures 15 x 16 x 6 inches.

The Mini connects wirelessly to Sonos speakers through a 5GHz Wi-Fi connection designed for low latency and better lip-sync performance and is super easy to set up and control using the Sonos app. Easy, in part, because the system automatically adjusts the crossover and EQ to match the product the sub is “bonding” with — in this case the Sonos Beam. In a clever design twist that eases cable management, the power connection (and an Ethernet port for those who want a foolproof wired connection) are on the bottom of the sub, which is elevated by rubberized feet. The cabinet houses a pair of Class-D amplifiers and two inward-facing 6-inch woofers, a design said to cancel distortion and boost performance. (The Sonos Sub uses a similar configuration, so there’s proof of concept.)

So how did the little guy perform? Admirably, as illustrated by a series of listening tests conducted by recording-engineer-turned-audio-reviewer, Leslie Shapiro who was inspired to rewatch the Netflix series “The Terminal List” with the Sub Mini linked to (and greatly expanding the reach of) her Beam soundbar. In addition to hearing and feeling a pounding heartbeat in opening credits she hadn’t noticed before, the sub brought a new dimension of realism to battle sequences: “Explosive impact as gunshots rang out in the underwater caves, followed by grenade discharges, echoed with a massively bass-heavy score.” Music also acquitted itself well with bass that was appropriately tight and controlled. The Sub Mini is a no-brainer for Sonos fans looking to take things up a notch.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Most affordable Sonos subwoofer
Compact, attractive
Controlled, restrained bass response
Minus
No Trueplay for Android
Fixed crossover
Only useable in the Sonos ecosystem

Full Review Here (posted 10/26/22)

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